Countries negotiating to deliver an international climate deal are back in business and both Denmark and Mexico, the outgoing and incoming chairs of the UN-led talks, are developing a “GPS system” to successfully reach their destination on time by December, Danish Energy and Climate Change Minister Lykke Friis told EurActiv in an interview.

“A lot of negotiators and ministers were suffering from climate depression after Copenhagen […] But now, I think we have moved ahead,” Friis said, explaining that a number of steps in the right direction had been taken.

EU’s 30% target must remain bargaining chip

Commenting on Europe’s overall strategy to retain leadership in international negotiations, she supported EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, a Dane herself, by saying that the EU should retain the option of reducing its CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020 as a bargaining chip.

“Europe’s overall strategy should be to get others to step up their game as well. We should not play that card now. We should use it when we get to the end game in Cancún,” insisted the minister, despite conceding that the plan did not work in Copenhagen.

The minister expressed her conviction that should the EU manage to speak with one voice, it will be able to persuade other countries to step up their ambitions. But “we need to live up to our various promises, especially on ‘fast start’ finance. This will play a major role in confidence building,” she said.

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